CAVING IN

A/N: This is set in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, when Max and Fang are in the cave, trying to decide where to live after they left Anne's. In the book she flies away, but this is what REALLY happens.

Chapter One

Fang's P.O.V.

I breathed out slowly, quietly. And yet you could still hear it in the deathly silence of the cave.

"What about the School and saving the world?" Max asked, her voice small but solid.

Dammit, Max! I screamed inside my head. I wanted her to forget about that... I wanted my old Max back. Oh, she was still there, beautiful, strong, an independant leader. But this saving-the-world stuff was making her colder.
"We have to quit playing their game," I said. "We have to remove ourselves from the equation."

Max closed her eyes. "I can't. I - just have to do this."
I want you back, Max. I want you. "Max, you can change your mind."
Suddenly, I was desperate. I needed Max to give this up. The fighting, the violence... she could get hurt, or worse. No! I tried to shut myself up.
"I don't know how," she whispered miserably. She curled into a ball and dropped her face to her knees.
There was silence. Max, I wanted to say. Max, I love you. I love you. Wait- what? My head snapped up. Oh, my god. I love her.
All of a sudden, my hand was stroking something. Her hair? I didn't know. I was numb with the realization.

I. Love. Maximum. Ride.

A fire started in my chest, one that burned so feverently I thought it might actually hurt me. I loved Max so much that I didn't think I could feel anything else but that.
My long fingers trailed off her next and down her spine. I felt her shiver, but didn't look at her.
She suddenly sat up, and turned to look at me. "What the heck are you doing?"

I would have smiled, but I was too caught up in the moment.

"Helping you change your mind," I whispered and pressed my lips to hers.

For a moment there was nothing, nothing else but her soft mouth against mine, and my hands as I pulled her closer to me. The kiss seemed to last forever.
Then, she pulled away. "Forget the mission," I said softly. "Let's just all be -"
I was cut off as Max threw her hands around my neck and kissed me with a dizzy passion. Surprised but happy, I kissed back. There was nothing but Max. Just Max and me..

Panting from lack of breath - as breathing prevented kissing, which Max seemed intent on doing - Max pushed me down to the hard stone ground and crawled directly over me. She looked at me for a little while. And then I saw it: the hard-ass leader Max was gone, replaced by the real Max, the one I wanted. She leaned down and touched her lips to mine.

Smiling, I placed my hands on her hips and rolled over, drawing back as I did so, to look at her once more.